Packet switched networks can route data traffic or packets of data using Internet Protocol networks. A Voice over Internet Protocol (VoIP) network is an example of a packet network that allows voice traffic (e.g., telephone calls) to be carried over an Internet Protocol (IP) network between two telephones, two computers systems, or similar communication devices.
VoIP networks today support sophisticated vertical features and services through the use of application logic in network-internal softswitches or application servers, where the latter are invoked by network call control elements that handle basic call control functions such as routing or recording. In order to reduce costs, reduce time to market, make use of intellectual property owned by a third party, or to mitigate risk, support feature and service application logic could be provided through the use of third-party application servers external to the network.
One commonly known system of providing third party service support is by using the Parlay interface. The Parlay interface allows a third party system to connect to a VoIP network using a Parlay interface, where an element at the edge of the network interworks to a protocol recognized within the network such as the Session Initiation Protocol (SIP); however, that approach is relatively complicated in terms of the Parlay protocol scope and the need for protocol interworking.
Another known system of providing third party service support is by delivering a call, including a media path, to a third party device for service processing, where later the call is re-routed to its ultimate destination. This re-routing system may in some cases be achieved by releasing the call back into the network and re-routing from the network (for example, if no more service processing is required). The re-routing may instead have to be done by forwarding the call through the third-party device (for example, if additional service processing is needed such as monitoring the caller for DTMF digits input, or later playing an announcement to the caller). In either case, this approach uses considerably more of the packet network and the third party resources to handle the call than what the network providers and third parties would like to allocate.
Thus, a need exists to provide a telecommunications system for allowing third party application servers to connect to packet networks for service control and communications support through a relatively simple and common interface, without excessive use of the network's or the third party's resources.
A need exists for a telecommunications system for use by a third party that can reuse existing network architectural components and elements and common vendor equipment to provide communication connections and call control via an external application gateway and a third party application server using a Session Initiation Protocol (SIP)—based interface for interacting with a packet network.
A need exists for providing a telecommunications system that can use an external application gateway and external server systems in communication with a packet network (e.g., VoIP) to support a third party service application (for example, prepaid calling card service) and effectively minimize the costs for providing the service.
The embodiments meet these needs.